See Her Smile
by Rethira
Summary: Eliwood as a secret.


This was written for the Fire Emblem Challenge Fest prompt: _Fire Emblem 7, Hector/girl!Eliwood - finding out his best friend has secretly always been female...and subsequently falling head over heels. _I'm not really pleased with the ending, but I really wanted to post it before the deadline.

Warnings: genderbending, some mentioned violence

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or any characters therein. I make no money from any fanfiction.

* * *

Eliwood had never meant to reveal it. Actually, Eliwood had sort of hoped that no-one would ever find out. But then... well, swords ripped up clothes like there was no tomorrow and an unlucky hit had ripped right across Eliwood's chest and straight through the tight bindings Eliwood used. Hector had appeared only seconds later to smash an axe through the unlucky bandit's skull and Eliwood had, for all of three seconds, thanked St. Elimine that Hector was the only other person around and cursed the fact that these bandits had taken them by surprise and Eliwood hadn't had time to get the armour on.

And then the truth had come tumbling out. Not quite literally, but close enough. It was quite hard to miss really, that Eliwood's tunic had been torn right through and Eliwood had been forced to clutch at it to prevent a highly embarrassing – not to mention un-Lordly – occurrence. That didn't prevent Hector from stating the obvious.

"Eliwood... are those... are you...?" And then the gibbering had started.

* * *

To be fair, Hector wasn't known for his noticing skills. Further to that, Eliwood had been hiding what she was for all her life, so she was an old hand at it. To hear Eliwood tell it, there had been some sort of succession problem. Something about it only passing down the male line and Lady Eleanora had had a difficult birth so Lord Elbert hadn't wanted to try for a son. Hector didn't really care much about the why of it; he only really cared about the... the _it_ of it. Namely, Eliwood was a girl. A girl. Like Lyn, or Florina, or Serra. Actually, not like Serra. _No-one_ was like Serra, thank St. Elimine.

Hector was having a bit of a problem coping with that. He was, in fact, having a huge problem coping with that. For one, there were a number of things he was just remembering that he'd said to Eliwood, that in retrospect were highly embarrassing. And there had been quite a few times where he'd wandered around half-naked, which had been fine when he thought Eliwood was a boy but now that he knew the truth... well, now it was just a bit embarrassing. And worrying. After all, there were some things Lords didn't do. And wandering around in the altogether in front of girls was one of those things.

The other, rather more disturbing problem, was that Eliwood was acting exactly the same. That is, Eliwood was acting like she always had. She'd been a bit embarrassed herself, muttering something about how annoying it was that she'd grown up but she'd been less worried about the whole thing than Hector was. She'd just persuaded him not to say anything about it, clapped him on the back like she always did and then wandered off to find something to bind herself up with. And Isadora apparently, because Isadora was one of the very, very few who knew that Eliwood was a girl. And then after she'd done that and found a change of clothes, she'd gone off to spar with Guy. Hector had kind of just stood there and watched, his brain still feeling not quite right and wondering if this was all some horrible, horrible dream.

Unfortunately for Hector, it wasn't a dream. As he found out the following morning when he wandered over to Eliwood's tent and found her looking for some better bandages.

"Could you go to the healer's tent and pick some up for me, Hector? The ones I used yesterday were old and too stretched to be of any real use. I spent that entire spar with Guy worried that the dratted thing would come undone," she said. Hector nodded and dutifully went to fetch some bandages, trying to forget that Eliwood hadn't exactly been dressed and she'd been baring a lot of pale skin. Now, _that_ was unlike her, but Hector supposed that she was relaxing her guard a little around Hector. It was, he thought, quite silly because if anyone else apart from Isadora and whoever else knew and waltzed in then they would've found out too and then the entire army would've known.

"Hey, Eliwood. You should probably get dressed before I come over next time," Hector said when he returned. Eliwood blinked and nodded.

"Oh, yes, I suppose I better had. I would have been, but I really needed some new bandages," she said. She smiled apologetically. "I'll see you for breakfast."

"Yeah, see you there," Hector replied, feeling a bit like he'd just been trampled by a horse. He couldn't help but wonder if Eliwood's smile had always been that pretty, or if it was something new.

* * *

Hector was acting strange. It was annoying Eliwood, because she was fairly sure that it was because he knew she was a girl. She was acting exactly the same as she always did, but Hector was not. He kept on making up excuses not to see her and refused to spar with her anymore. That was the main problem of course; Eliwood _liked_ sparring with Hector. It was fun. But Hector seemed to have a problem with fighting now that he knew she was a girl. Eliwood had tried to point out that she could hold her own in battle, but Hector was having none of it.

And, masculine as it might be, Eliwood really wanted to hit Hector for that.

What annoyed her even more was that he was _only_ acting like this around Eliwood. When Lyn wanted to spar, Hector was all for it. When Serra started being obnoxious, Hector would get her to stop. When Florina was having a panic attack, Hector would calm her down (which was a feat in and of itself, given that Hector was a man). But if Eliwood wanted to spar, or to talk, or to do _anything_ Hector would leap up and run off. People were beginning to notice. Even Ninian could see that something was wrong and she was terrified that Hector was avoiding Eliwood because she was spending too much time with Ninian. Not that Ninian knew that Eliwood was a girl. That was a secret that was rather too big for Eliwood to tell, even if she was sure Ninian would never breathe a word of it to anyone else.

All in all, Eliwood was upset and angry, Hector was being stupid about something and the entire army was walking on eggshells. Lyn had even had a go at Eliwood, telling her to figure out whatever was wrong with Hector and fix him. Eliwood had duly tried, but Hector was being stubborn and had all but run off. Oswin, who had been there at the time, had been quite embarrassed and had stammered apologies before hurrying after his lord. Even Serra was being quieter than normal. The worst thing of course, was that Eliwood was sure it was all her fault. And it was her fault for being a _girl_ just like all the other stupid things that were her fault because she was a girl. If she'd just been born male like everyone thought she had, then nothing would be wrong and she wouldn't have to hide herself and Hector would be his normal self.

Needless to say, Eliwood was not in a fantastic mood when Hector finally decided to man up (which he'd actually never had to do before) and face his fears.

* * *

"What do you want?" Eliwood asked grumpily when Hector came to see her. Hector had to resist the urge to stare. Eliwood still looked like Eliwood. But... there was just something. Her expression or the way she held herself or something that he'd never really noticed before. "Hector?"

"Ah, yes. Look, Eliwood, I'm sorry. I was acting like a... like a..." Hector tried to find the right word.

"Like an idiot?" Eliwood offered dryly.

"I admit it, I was being stupid. But it was a surprise, you have to understand that. You're a _girl,_ Eliwood and I might be a rubbish lord, but I can hardly knock you around like I used to," Hector said, avoiding Eliwood's eyes.

"Hector, we've been over this before. In our duels I've won more than you. I haven't changed at all. I'm still Eliwood," she replied. Hector wanted to bash his head against something. He wondered if it was horribly wrong of him to think his best friend was beautiful. Even if she was dressed like a man. Even if she acted like a man, even if she wanted to spar with him and get bloody and laugh when they beat bandits and share jokes with Lyn. He just... felt really kind of hopeless.

"Hector?" Eliwood asked, her eyes wide. "What did you just say?" Hector blinked.

"I don't know, what did I say?" he replied. Eliwood seemed to have developed a blush. A pretty blush. A blush he really shouldn't be wondering about.

"You said I was beautiful," she replied hesitantly. For a long few minutes, Hector absolutely hated his mouth for working without consulting his brain.

"Well you are," Hector eventually said. Eliwood blushed a little bit more.

"Really? You think I'm... even though I dress like this," she asked. It seemed that even Eliwood acted like a girl when she was complimented.

"Yes really. Now do you want to spar or not?"

Hector tried to convince himself that his heart didn't jump in his chest when Eliwood smiled at him. It didn't work.

* * *

She was really very pretty, Hector had to admit. Not the sort of prettiness or beauty that say, Ninian possessed. But still pretty. Eliwood still managed to look male, it was just that now Hector knew she wasn't he could see a few feminine things about her. Sometimes he would the way she rode her horse, or a casual movement would catch his eye and he would know that it wasn't something men did. Eliwood was gentle and while before it had just been _Eliwood_ now Hector thought it might be because she was girl. Although it probably was just _Eliwood_ given some of the other women Hector had met. But mostly, Hector was rapidly becoming convinced that whenever Eliwood smiled his brain was going to turn momentarily to mush.

Hector half wished that Eliwood didn't smile so often, but he knew that she was trying to keep everyone's morale up and besides which he really did like her slightly wistful, not entirely happy smiles. He wanted her to always smile like that, and only at him. Whenever she smiled at Ninian, Hector found he would be hit with a monstrous surge of jealousy which was quite obviously stupid because it wasn't like anything could happen between Eliwood and Ninian. Even if Ninian didn't know that Eliwood was a girl, Eliwood couldn't start anything up. Unfortunately, sound logic didn't seem to work when Hector was feeling jealous. Lots of things didn't work, like telling himself that he was being stupid and that he was friends with Eliwood and nothing else.

People were still noticing that Hector was acting a bit strange around Eliwood, but Eliwood herself didn't seem to care much. Hector was pretty sure that Eliwood just assumed he was acting strange because Eliwood was a girl and while that was part of it, the other part was that Hector kept on finding himself wondering what it would be like to kiss his best friend. And that was quite distracting, really. It wasn't like Eliwood was doing anything differently; she still acted male. It was just Hector. It was driving him kind of mad. And he kept on feeling like he should be getting her flowers. In the middle of a war. Hector was understandably confused about that and had so far not given in to the impulse, but he was getting dangerously close to do some sort of other stupid thing.

Really, if something didn't happen soon, Hector would probably do something he'd later regret.

* * *

It all came to a head shortly afterwards. They were coming away from a battle. Eliwood had spent most of it away from Hector, so it came as a shock when Hector saw Eliwood limping into view, one bloodied arm wrapped up in a makeshift sling. Priscilla almost dropped her staff hurrying to get to Eliwood. Hector _did_ drop his axe hurrying to Eliwood, who was being mostly supported by a worried looking Rebecca. Upon Hector's arrival, Rebecca sagged in relief as Eliwood grabbed Hector and latched on, waiting for Priscilla to start healing her.

"What happened?" Hector asked, trying not to sound as worried as he was. His heart felt like it was trying to beat out of his chest. It probably would have too, if Priscilla hadn't started healing Eliwood right then.

"There was this strange wyvern rider, Lord Hector," Rebecca replied. "Lord Eliwood was some distance from anyone else, and this monstrous wyvern rider appeared out of nowhere. If I hadn't managed to get there in time..." Rebecca shook her head.

"I'm fine Hector," Eliwood said then. Priscilla curtseyed and hurried off, probably to heal any other injured soldiers. Rebecca nodded to both of them and left too. She looked exhausted.

"You _weren't_. Rebecca was only just holding you up. _You had to make a tourniquet out of your cape_," Hector hissed, dragging Eliwood upright. She pushed herself off him and started tugging at her cape. It was hard to tell because of the colour, but it was covered in blood, which Hector was pretty sure was mostly Eliwood's.

"I'm fine now, Hector. Take me back to my tent and let me sleep it off. I'll be fighting fit by tomorrow morning," she sighed. Hector fell silent, but he wasn't precisely happy about the whole situation. Eliwood's wounds may have been healed, but she was all but falling over and her face was creased with exhaustion. Once in her tent, Eliwood fell on her bed with a grateful sigh. Hector knew he should leave, but he just couldn't. He felt like if he looked away, Eliwood might disappear. "Hector? You can go now," Eliwood mumbled, peering at him from the bed. She looked as near to sleep as she could get without actually being asleep.

"I... Eliwood. You need to be more careful on the battlefield," Hector replied, sitting down next to her. She sleepily lifted her head. It made Hector feel all sorts of squishy feelings he would never admit to feeling. He wanted to kiss her.

"I am careful Hector. Today won't happen again, will it?" she asked. She was smiling again, that sleepy smile that radiated contentedness. Hector could feel his ears heating up.

"No. I'll stick with you so it won't happen again," Hector promised. Eliwood smiled and sleepily leaned forwards. Her lips brushed gently across Hector's and Hector's brain shut down.

"I trust you Hector. Now let me go to sleep," she murmured. Hector grinned and restrained the urge to leap up and yell.

"I'll be here when you wake up, Eliwood," Hector whispered instead. He got up and turned to leap. In the entrance flap he glanced back. Eliwood had fallen asleep. She was peacefully drooling slightly. Hector smiled to himself and swept outside.

He and Eliwood would come out of this somehow. And they would come out of this together.

* * *

Thanks for reading.

_Rethira_


End file.
